Amiibo fever has certainly swept across the US and the rest of the world since the figures were first released by Nintendo back in 2014. Nintendo fans gobbled up the figures, which can be used in Wii U and 3DS games, but usually just end up on a shelf. Surprisingly, it seems that they’ve not only ended up on random gamers’ shelves, but also those of the President of the United States.
In an interview on YouTube, conducted by YouTube personalities Destin Sandlin, Ingrid Nilsen and Adande Thorne, a shelf full of Amiibo can be seen in the background. It’d be one thing if this interview was conducted at an office, or some random location, but this was actually held inside the White House, in the East Room to be exact.
The odd choice of decoration was first spotted by Kotaku, who also pointed out that there were two Luigi figures contained in the collection. As many commentors pointed out though, Obama presided over the US during the Year of Luigi, so really this whole thing makes a lot of sense. I guess.
Nintendo of America also noticed the figures, saying “Love your choice of decorations” and linking to the interview.
We’ve known for a while that President Obama was a gamer, having purchased a Wii for his family back during its heyday. Perhaps that love of Nintendo home consoles has continued to the Wii U, and then to Amiibo.
The real question is, has President Obama had to turn to scalpers to get the figures he wants, or are they supplied to him without much hassle. He definitely doesn’t have the time to sit on Amazon and Play-Asia hitting refresh until the stock pops up. Maybe after this Nintendo will get him whatever Amiibo he wants, so he can worry about much more important things. Then again, they could have just been put there by the interviewer. Perhaps we’ll never know. Nah, it’s definitely this.
